Updates from the Grave.

With thanks to my friend, Felix, I got reminded that I used to love blogging and sharing my thoughts on...simply anything in the world.

Life has gotten me wrapped around its finger for the past 6 years and distracted me with vices such as shopping and drinking.

It has slipped my mind momentarily that joy can be as simple as this.

I hope to get this started again, though it would entail some work like changing my profile pic and banner to one that looks badly resized, but sadly, it is not disproportional. It is just me gaining weight..haha.

"Updates from the Grave" - why the title?

Perhaps it's the realisation that the many years of working my life into adulthood has murdered quite a few bits of me and buried them six feet under.

Reading some of my older posts has made me realise how different my thoughts were back then, and maybe even my feelings and emotions.

Life seemed simpler then. I am not sure if I was over sensitive then, or if I am too jaded now. Back then, every ounce of "other people's _________" mattered greatly to me and I felt as if I had to be responsible for everyone's feelings, emotions and thoughts, be it towards me or towards others. Any discord among relationships around me was MINE to settle, and any dark cloud over anyone's head was MINE to disperse. Now, my opinion is everyone has full control and ownership of our emotion, feelings and thoughts. Whether it is sitting on a rainbow or drowning in a turbulent sea is very much of our own choice.

Relationships appeared less complicated then. Gone are the days when I felt relationships are just joined by straight lines, and your fondness for someone is just purely based on your judgement and decision. Experience has taught me some relationships are beyond a line - they are radical and involve so many subsets and indirect connectors that your own judgement seems irrelevant, or just unimportant. But one thing does stay constant though - the closest and purest ones are still undisturbed, straight and strongly bolded, so long as they don't get faded with time, or erased by a intangible and frustratingly uncontrollable thing called politics. I cannot emphasize how much I dread Ms Bitchy Politics. Just in the recent few months, she has made me walk the plank off a friendship because the ex-friend failed to recognise Politics as the devil it is, and ended up sipping tea with her.

Time was in our hands then. I remember those days when hobbies were so easy to have and 24 hours seemed so....ample and satisfactory. Now, it takes A LOT of effort to keep to a hobby and possibly means the sacrifice of sleep to ensure the completion of a day's tasks. With so many things in the world undergoing inflation, is time one of the few essentials that's deflating at an exponential rate?

I certainly had more energy then. I am only into my 9th paragraph and already feeling my life seep away. Perhaps it's because of a drunk SOMEONE constantly waking me from my sleep last night, or a whole day of helping out at my school's examinations.

Anyway, finding excuses to battle the real reason of increasing frailty of aging seems like good grounds to pen off this post for now.

Social Media....Social Idiot

As ironic as it sounds, I am using social media right now to rant about social media.

Well, to be exact, people's obsession with social media that it makes them into selfish, inconsiderate social morons.

How often do you see people typing away on Facebook or Twitter or Whatsapp that they become totally oblivious of more important things such as watching the traffic for their lives, or being socially considerate and not snailing away in the middle of walking pavements, or fostering relationships by engaging in REAL conversations with REAL people?

I see that everyday.

On the buses and trains.

In the shopping malls.

During meetings.

And sometimes even in the movie theatres!

Though I really hate it, I've tried silently accepting it because it is not the first sign of urban decay that the harsh reality has presented before me. On the contrary, it's just one of the minions of urban decay.

However, this reality has crawled its way onto a colleague of mine today, of whom I consider as a friend, and I wish I could gun that creepy slimey reality down.

Being a new member in a team is never easy - the process of introduction, adaption and eventually gelling can be as painful as a root canal without the benefit of laughing gas. 

However, I was lucky to have found my first 'clique' when I joined. It came in a pleasant package named S. 

S and I started lunching together and taking the transport home together and though there is a good gap of 6 years between us, I was really happy to have found a colleague I could call a friend.

Friendship is like an invisible contract, signed by your emotions rather than your hands. Itbears returns which is non-monetary, yet gratifying. However, the dangers of considering someone a friend is that sometimes you tend to take on responsibilities of your own accord.

With more new colleagues joining the team, the lunch group got bigger, the conversation topic becomes more diverse and the attention given to each member of the clique diminishes. However, we still enjoy one another's company...well, except for S.

Unfortunately, this is also when the frequency of S's constant tapping away on his phone during lunch hour increases. 

When I first noticed it, I tried kicking it to the furthest back alley of my mind and covering it with the cobwebs accumulated at the empty space in my brain, which was caused by a brain damage incurred from an automobile accident years back. 

As time went by, I found myself having to constantly suppress my outspokenness just so that I would not call a spade a spade and give S a piece of my mind.

Though I did jokingly bring it up at times, he still refused to take the hint and put his phone away. 

It then came to a point when a few others in the lunch group started to privately comment on that to me. 

Today, it happened again. A member of the group was commenting cautiously in Chinese, which S does not understand, that he had never taken his eyes off his phone, nor spoken a word, ever since he sat down and ate.

Once again, I joked about that a couple of times, with STRONG hints for him to put away the phone, each hint getting stronger than the other. He decided to be a stubborn arse and refused to budge. In fact, he didn't even respond to the comments.

It then hit me that hinting was probably not enough. I had enough of suppressing myself and turning a blind eye to his behaviour which is not only extremely rude, but also a social stigma to me.

I whatsapp him to request for him to stop looking at his phone when he is lunching with us, and that he has been doing it for MONTHS now, which is not nice at all.

He ignored my messages to my utter dismay.

When we got back to our desks, I messaged him on our office communication platform and he ignored me once again.

When I finally got fedup and said 'whatever' and exited the conversation, he finally responded.

'I don't know how to answer those questions. Sorry.' was all he said.

I decided to give it one last try and tried telling him as nicely as possible that what he did is rather rude and that perhaps it's time for him to start paying attention to the group and engaging in our conversations. Afterall, that is the point of having a lunch group, isn't it? To communicate at ease with each other during that hour of reduced stress level, and to foster stronger bonds within the team.

He replied with a 'I'm okay. No worries'.

He's okay? Of course he's okay!

But We, or at least, I am not okay!

I decided to finally give up and ended the conversation with 'well, actually why would I want to bother myself with all these. Have fun. Cheers'.

After sending that message, I actually felt like going up to him and slapping the senses into him.

Sure, he is younger. But shouldn't a 27-year-old be matured enough for sensitivity and sensibility?

Well, have fun in your virtual world, S.

Perhaps the day will come when you can eat virtual food with your virtual friends in your virtual world, where you can have your virtual conversations with them.

Me? I'd rather remain on Planet Earth.

Dawn of The Planet of The Apes: Is it Really Dawn?

The perks of being a house-girlfriend (in contrast to housewife) is that

1) I get to watch my favourite series Devious Maids while ironing and wondering if all maids in the states look THAT hot;

2) I get to go back to sleep after preparing breakfast for my baby man;

3) Time is in my hands and I get to change my task to another once I get bored with the current one;

4) I do not have to deal with FAKE, PRETENTIOUS and BACK-STABBING assistants or pull my hair out over unrealistic KPI targets anymore;

5) I can finally have a fitness routine;

6) I can take care of domestic matters on full-time basis.

The downside of being one, on the other hand, is that

1) The savings in my bank account keeps decreasing;

2) There is no income coming in;

3) Life becomes a routine, whereby the most exciting things in a day is planning meals and cooking them.

With thanks to my friend Sumith, I get to break that routine on 30th July 2014 - we decided to meet at the theatre closest to us and catch 'Dawn of The Planet of The Apes'.

The synopsis extracted from Shaw cinemas' website is as appended:

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

To be honest, the trailer and the synopsis have proven to be somewhat misleading.

For those who have watched the movie, I can understand that turnkey event which led to the war should not be shown in the trailer or mentioned in the synopsis. Nonetheless, I believe most can agree that the both sounded and looked more exciting than the movie itself.

A few aspects which I found lacking from the movie are:

1) The first part started with all the news broadcasts of the virus and humans being wiped out - very Quarantine-like. But it seemed that the rest of the movie does not connect very well with that point;

2) The  producer tried to portray that humans and apes can still possibly connect even at that situation but I feel that the connections are rather weak and abrupt and seemed to be 'forcefully' made to happen. In fact, I find the video clip showing the interaction between Caesar and Will in the camcorder, which Caesar turned on, more real and powerful than any other connection in this second instalment;

3)The title states DAWN of the planet of the apes...but...where is the dawn? It is true that the apes took over for a brief number of days but that does not suffice for the word 'dawn'. And the ending shows a possible war starting between humans and apes, but that is not exactly 'dawn' either. The movie does not seem to bring out the essence of the title.

Having said that,  I am not at all disappointed by the show. Some elements and messages from the show still stand out strongly, making it a great cinematic experience nevertheless - the special effects brought the apes to life, so much so that I actually commented to Sumith that no kid should be brought to this show or else all zoological gardens around the world would have to remove all their ape enclaves; and the lines which Caesar last said still haunts me and gets me thinking till now. 

Caesar said 'Apes started the war; Humans won't forgive'. Is this why wars still exist in a civilisation like today's? Is that why guns and ammunition were prepared though Malcolm said to give him time? Is that even why guns exist today?

One thing which I would like to applaud the producer is for bringing out a clear message that humans tried using guns to solve problems but in the end it backfired (yes, I am punning) and right till the end, it still wasn't guns which resolved that war.

Movie Review: Machine Gun Preacher

In case some of you are wondering, I am not a Christian, so no, this is not why I wrote a review on this movie.

My boyfriend and I recently went on a day trip to Desaru - one of those online deals I found on Bigplusdeal.com. Anyway putting the trip aside (which was GREAT!), he bought some DVDs when we were dropped off at a local mall (where we were stared at by the locals like some rare species which just surfaced upon Earth), and one of them was The Machine Gun Preacher.



Honestly, the DVD cover and the idea of 'Machine Gun' and 'Preacher' did not sound attractive to me but there we were, at home on a Sunday night trying to decide on the movie to watch and he just randomly placed it into the DVD player.

'Oh well, at least it's the sexy Gerald Butler!' I thought.

The next 129 minutes was unexpectingly captivating, not because of the cinematography, the firearms or Gerald (though it should be :P ). The film, based on a true story, was simply mind-blowing due to the harsh reality of the world and how one man stands against it.

It tells of the story of Sam Childers who found God and changed his life from being a hopeless drug-dealing biker to joining the Sudanese Freedom Fighters and becoming a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who were abducted, abused, orphaned or forced by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to embrace LRA's brutality as young soliders or become additions to their enslavement/sex rings.

Sam Childers

He went to Sudan on a Christian mission once and never stopped fighting for the children after witnessing the atrocity of the LRA. Funding almost everything by himself, he and his wife Lynn founded and operate Angels of East Africa in the war zone vicinity of Sudan, housing more than 300 children in their care.

Boring as it may sound, I am not exaggerating when I say that any humane person would find this movie an eye-opener - the misfortune and sufferings existing at the other side of the globe and the cruelty and atrocity of war. The war scenes are not exaggerated, the killing scene not too gore and most importantly, no matrix-like bullets dodging miracles - making this film a real experience.

I would give this film two thumbs up, and a big salute to Sam Childers who is still in Sudan today fighting for the children.

For a trailer of this film, please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eddnloOFjwY and to hear the true story from the horse's mouth, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm_nTiJk3nQ

Movie Review: Taichi 0 太极之从零开始

On 1 Oct, I woke up and received an email which instantaneously brightened up my day: An invitation to attend the Gala Premiere of Taichi 0 太极之从零开始!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you omy.sg! I can finally get to see Tony Leung and Stephen Fung! Yay!!

Unable to contain my excitement, I messaged my friend Jalea to meet up for early dinner and get star struck with me. Our excitement was very well contained by a simple dinner at Kim Gary Restaurant,shopping at Daiso and wine-drinking at Vivocity whilst taking in the splendid evening view of the harbor and Sentosa.

Finally after much waiting, the moment had arrived!

From afar, we could already see people crowding excitedly around the red carpet area, holding cameras and getting ready their camera phones in the hope of catching the best shots of their idols. Jalea and I managed to get a good spot where we could capture the grandeur of the celebrities.

The emcee, a reknown radio deejay, did a wonderful job of giving a synopsis of the movie and introduction of the various characters and actors of the movie, in an extremely humorous way . Most importantly, he gave me a poster of the movie and hence he rocks! hahaha! He also warmed up the crowd really well, making the crowd's welcoming of the celebrities a really warm and grand one.

After some martial arts demonstration from the young kungfu masters from the Martial House, the celebrities finally arrived to everyone's keen anticipation.

Dressed in casual jeans and shirts, Tony Leung, Stephen Fung and Yuan Xiaochao still looked great! Here are some shots of our star struck moment:

After addressing the several insightful questions posted by the emcee, they took their leave as the keen movie previewers headed up to the theatre.

Taichi 0 太极之从零开始 turned out to be an entirely different movie from most Hong Kong kung fu films! I am particularly impressed and surprised by Stephen's daring step to illustrate this traditional martial arts form in a humorous and tastefully artistic way, and also his move to film the Part 1 & 2 together, with the second part to be on-screen three weeks after the Part 1. Combining Stephen's interesting directing angles and new approach in graphics, Sammo Hung's experienced and great martial arts choreography, Yuan Xiaochao's clean and sharp martial arts moves and Tony's great portrayal of a somewhat warped Taichi Master, this movie proved itself to be entertaining and funny while not compromising on the seriousness and gracefulness of Taichi.

In the movie, Stephen also took efforts to introduce most of the main martial arts actors by listing their credentials and past films briefly whenever they pop up on the screen and I applaud him for his respect for these martial arts masters who have kept this traditional Chinese martial arts form alive and well-respected by the world.

There is also strong chemistry among the actors, despite some of them being new in the industry.

Curious? Don't take my word for it. Hop on the nearest cinema near you and see it for yourself :) 

Here is an extract of the synopsis from Golden Village Cinemas' website:

As an uncommonly gifted child, Yang Luchan had a fleshy abnormality that holds tremendous power growing on his forehead. However being teased as the town fool, Yang's mother spurs him to practice martial arts, and following her wishes, Yang travels the distance to come to Chen Village to learn TAI CHI.

At this legendary village, everyone practices TAI CHI and uses TAI CHI in every aspect of their lives. Nevertheless, it is forbidden for a villager to disclose TAICHI to an outsider, and Yang learned this the hard way.

Upon arriving at the village, locals discourage Yang by challenging him with fights. From the strong men to hold ladies to children, everyone defeats Yang with their TAICHI moves. After facing the toughest battle and being defeated by Master Chen's beautiful daughter Yuniang, Yang is determined to master the art of TAICHI and he needs to find Master Chen.

Little does Yang know, the poor strange man who he befriended with is in fact Master Chen who then saved him from the duel with Yuniang. Master Chen realizes Yang's genius and disguises himself to secretly guide Yang to his self realization of TAICHI.

One day, a frightening steam-powered machine came to the village, lead by Fang Zijing, a childhood friend of Yuniang. He has bribed government officials to permit him to build a railway that will run straight through the village. Yang decided to join forces with Yuniang to defeat Fang Zijing and destroy the machine. This brave act may just win the hearts of the villagers....

You can catch the trailer here.

Movie Review: Ted

Ted? Who's Ted, you may be wondering.

Well, Ted is an amazingly funny (and crude) bear who is alive, kickin', smoking weed, cursing and getting the girls in town!

On 29 Sept, with thanks to omy.sg and United International Pictures Singapore, my friend Edwin and I had the chance to catch the preview of 'Ted'.

To be honest, I was not keen at first by the idea. I mean seriously, a talking crude teddy bear? It was like the idea of seeing Tweety smoking cigar and holding a bottle of beer to me then.

But alas, truth is that I've never regretted going for the preview. Well, when I nearly died of hyperventilation and stitches due to laughing too much, I might have regretted that tiny weeny bit ;)

The sypnosis adapted from http://www.cathaycineplexes.com.sg/movie_detail.aspx?status=coming&movie_id=635 is as follows:

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since.

But trust me when I say the movie has much much more to offer than this!

The story outline may seem a little too simple and the 'villian' a tad too childish but hey, after all, this is a story evolving around a man and his teddy bear who came across due to one wish he made one night when he was a child right? lol

What really impressed me was the ability of the script-writer to make Ted come alive and believe me, there will be moments when you will forget Ted is a bear and you go 'what? this is a bear?'. It goes to show how well the script-writer and directors know about human interactions so much so that they can successfully make every body language, words, facial expression and reactions Ted made looked so human-like! Thumbs up to them~

What I really like at the end of the movie was the movie I translated from the movie. In our everyday lives where we have to race through the hustles of urban life and cope with tremendous stress from various aspects of our lives, it's always good to have a child in us to keep our sanity and optimism in place.

All in all, it was a really entertaining and witty show and I would not even mind watching it twice!

Well done, United International Pictures. Great movie!

Sadness

Sometimes when my heart is in pain, I starve myself to divert the pain and to feel alive.